Language As A Form Of Communication In The Story Of Genie The Wild Child

powerful story of how she had endured more pain at the age of 12 than most could

* Despite scoring at the level of a one-year-old upon her initial assessment, Genie quickly began adding new words to her vocabulary. She started by learning single words and eventually began putting two words together much the way young children do. Curtiss began to feel that Genie would be fully capable of acquiring language.

When I was in 7th grade, one of my counselors told me she has this friend named Lilly when she was my age. She was in the foster care system and was staying with a great woman in a small yellow house. Before she was put with this family, she was with a man that abused her mentally and physically. Therefore, she was what some would call “crazy.” Bright lights would terrify her and it was hard for her to communicate with people. Lilly only trusted my counselor and couldn’t even trust her foster mom. She was unable to stay with her foster mom because Lilly was too much to handle because of the abuse in her past. She left just a little after a month and went with another foster family. It saddens me that a sweet little girl like Lilly has gone through so much pain and terror at just 11 years

It might be difficult to accept but every child can be hurt, put at risk or harm or abused, regardless of their age, gender, religion or ethnicity.

For example, Genie Wiley, whom is the child who was locked up and tied to a toileting chair in a room on her own for 13 years as her father believed she had a disability. This act of isolation has had a detrimental effect on her development. When Genie was found she was unable to walk properly, was unable to eat solid food and could not talk, this was believed to be because indications showed

Chili Vasquez was a normal seven year old. She hung out with her friends, hung out with her family, and overall had a normal life, until she was hit by a drunk driver. She was just coming back from the mall after getting a new haircut and a manicure and pedicure, excited to show off her nails to her mom while in the car with her aunt and cousin when they were struck by a drunk driver. The driver was clearly intoxicated and was on the wrong side of the road. Chili was paralyzed from the breast line down and is now stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. “Sometimes I’ll see a look of sadness come across her face as she sees her cousins and friends running and playing, wishing she could join them.” (Chili) Her aunt says tears welling up her eyes. When Chili was 9 years old she finally got the courage to share her story about the accident. Do you really want this to happen anymore to other

“Genie” Wiley was born into a horrible home, receiving absolutely no love or nurture from her parents since they deemed her mentally challenged. Without being properly diagnosed, her parents simply decided to neglect Genie keeping her isolated and locked in her room with no social interaction. Tied to a child’s potty chair until the age of thirteen, she was eventually found by social services but clearly showed signs of severe abuse and developmental problems. Genie could not walk or talk and had to be taken into the custody of the state where Children’s Hospital began treatment and scientific studies on her.

On July 27, 1981 Adam Walsh was in the toy department of Sears playing video games while his mom shopped in the store. This was quite common in the late seventies and early eighties when a trusting generation let their kids run wild and free. On this particular day a monster watched and waited close by for the perfect opportunity to strike. The opportunity presented itself, a small young boy, all alone. He snatched him and fled. This is every parent's worst nightmare and a horror story that griped the nation. In a matter of seconds, a child was gone and would never be seen alive again.

In the novel, Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis, Greek gods Hermes and Apollo make a bet that if they gave any animal the gift of intelligence, the animals would be even more unhappy than humans. In making this bet, fifteen dogs are granted the gift of intelligence allowing them to be able to communicate through their own newly formed language and become self-aware. At first, the dogs band together to form a pack, but quickly realize how language complicates their ability to work together. With the gift of intelligence, the dogs become individuals and think separately rather than working with a pack mentality. There is no longer harmony between the dogs, but instead a fight for dominance and a battle of intelligence. We will identify how language eroded the pack through disagreements and violence as the dogs become aware of their status and differences.

My Story is about the kidnapping of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart. She describes her time with her captors, from the beatings to the long nights crying out to her family and every detail in between. Smart showed true resilience and strength through her ordeal. She frequently mentions that her family and her mormon faith fueled her during those unimaginably, horrific nine months. The teenager was forced to ingest alcohol and drugs, and sometimes would go without food and water for days. By the time smart was found, she lost thirty-eight pounds. Smart says that she had been robbed on her virtue and self-worth. When she was found, at age fifteen, she described the feeling when being reunited with her family as a “rare moment of pure incomprehensible

The Robin case study was very interesting and a lot can be taken from it. She went through things that no child or person deserves to be put through. She spread her word and wanted to make change on sexual assault and protection against it. Her story is very eye opening and inspirational. At a young age Robin was raped, molested, and abused by multiple people in her life. She experienced this from all the men she looked up too including; her dad, grandpa, and uncle. From experiencing this abuse, there was clear immediate and long-term effects. Some immediate results were depression. Robin struggled with depression her whole life. On top of that her mother passed away when she was a young adult. She went through a lot of foster care and was all over the board.

Genie, the second case of wild child was found in a room tied to a potty chair. Genie was kept in a room locked away because her father thought she was retarded at birth until the age of 13, when she was rescued by a social worker. She was locked away from normal civilization and any type of socialization, and she was beaten for making noises. Genie was an infant trapped in a 13 year old body, because she could only make infant like sounds and no words or sentences. Genie's brain waves were adnormal, but doctors believed that she could learn. They began teaching and trying to develop her brain through forming relationships. Genie begin to speak and say words; but they were difficult to understand. Genie progress gave doctors hope that she

Genie’s case is heartbreaking. Not only did she suffer unimaginable traumas during the first 12 years of her life, but her case resulted in a tug-of-war from researchers who wanted to help her, yet wanted to further their own agenda. It was particularly sad to hear that she had returned to live with her mother at age 18, and then entered the foster care system when her mother realized that she was ill equipped to care for her daughter. She was subjected to further trauma and abuse,

Genie was a victim of several abuse, neglect and social isolation. She was neglected by her father when she was a baby at (20 months old). Her father, kept her from any interaction with people, he locked up in a room and never open it, only when to feed her. Until she was freed out of the room when she was 3 years7 months old. And she was found and taken to the hospital. When genie was discovered, she had no ability to talk. She had not had any communication or interaction with any language from anyone. She spent her whole life in a state of physical, sensory, social and emotional deprivation, she was unable to use language. Based on Chomsky approach, where babies or kids inherit a particular language and when they grow older and speak it.

Not long after being admitted to the hospital, Genie seemed to recognize only her name and the word “sorry.” She scored as low as normal one-year-olds on maturity and preschool attainment scales. According to Piaget, there are six substages contained with the Sensorimotor stage of development. It seems as if Genie may have passed up substages three through six of the Sensorimotor stage. Throughout her first seven months of instruction, she identified hundreds of new words and began to speak. Eventually, Genie began using two-word phrases, much like most eighteen-month-olds do. Then, in turn, she progressed to using three-word phrases. She had a referential style of language learning since most of the words she used were ones that referred to objects. Furthermore, Genie never asked questions and didn’t comprehend a great deal of grammar. She never had a speech “explosion” like most children after reaching the two-word stage. Her language was in no way fully-developed.